Patriots vs. 49ers: Full Report Card Grades for New England

The doctor ordered up the right medicine for the New England Patriots after coming off the disheartening loss to the Seattle Seahawks last week at Gillette Stadium. 

Despite playing on the road, the Patriots had the sweet luxury of playing a struggling San Francisco 49ers football team that is right up there with the Cleveland Browns for the rank of the worst team in the league. 

After getting gashed on the ground and decimated in the secondary by the Seahawks, the Patriots needed a matchup with a bad team. The 49ers delivered even though they kept the game close through the first half thanks to some lousy weather. 

Tom Brady and Julian Edelman, the Patriots golden boys of the Bay Area, put on a show for their friends and family. Brady even got the crowd to chant "Brady! Brady! Brady!" on countless occasions. 

It was far from a flawless win, but the Patriots made some great strides and did what they were supposed to do to get back on track to being a Super Bowl favorite. 

Read on for grades and analysis from the Patriots' 30-17 win over the 49ers to push their record to 8-2 on the season. 

Quarterback

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It rained all game long, and then the sky gave way to a beautiful rainbow that must have been a tribute to Tom Brady playing in his hometown. 

Brady was electric during the game with his incredible footwork. He may not be the most agile or fleet-footed quarterback in the NFL, but Brady's awareness and movement in the pocket made some really big plays possible.

Brady stepped up perfectly and escaped with great vision on his brilliant dagger strike of a touchdown to Malcolm Mitchell to basically serve as the game-over moment of the matchup. Brady's footwork on his touchdown pass to James White was also exceptional. Toss in his spinning escape and improvising on the touchdown to Danny Amendola, and Brady was virtually flawless. 

The only knock on Brady was he finished 1-of-8 on deep balls, though some of this could be attributed to the monsoon-like weather through the majority of the game. 

Any day when Brady throws 24-of-40 for 280 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions is a great day. In fact, it happened for the 21st time in his career, which is the tops for most games with four TDs and no interceptions in NFL history. 

Grade: A

Running Back

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Oh, boy! The Patriots have a three-headed running back monster. 

We all remember the days when the Patriots didn't have a single RB who was highly effective. With the triumphant and long-awaited return of Dion Lewis, the Patriots now have a true beast forming. Beware of the Patriots backfield, opposing NFL teams. 

LeGarrette Blount: He had 19 carries, 124 yards and almost capped his day off with a touchdown. Nothing was prettier than Blount's 44-yard scamper early in the game. If it weren't for a Nate Solder hold, Blount would have found the end zone on a 35-yard run. He punishes opposing players and looks surprisingly quick on the outside now, too. His patience as a runner is paying off. 

Dion Lewis: It's great to have him back. Lewis looked shifty as can be after his return from an ACL tear. The rust was not evident in his limited work. Lewis will be a big contributor down the stretch of the season and playoffs. 

James White: Not so fast! Don't forget about the pass-catching back who has helped the Patriots all season long. White may lose snaps to Lewis, but he deserves some touches. White had a huge day with six catches for 63 yards and a touchdown, which was a beautiful screen pass that he powered through a defender to get into the end zone. 

Grade: A+

Wide Receiver

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The Patriots were without Chris Hogan, who has emerged as one of Brady's favorite targets, but we got to return to the Brady-to-Edelman show.

Edelman was targeted on 17 of Brady's 40 pass attempts, which is just below 50 percent of all targets. Edelman came through for Brady and the Patriots, who needed him to be the catalyst of the offense early on. Edelman finished the game with eight catches for 77 yards and a touchdown. He was as close to impossible to cover as any receiver could be throughout the first half.

Say hey to the rookie Malcolm Mitchell! The Patriots are all about the "Next Man Up" philosophy, and with Hogan out, it was Mitchell's turn to step up.

Mitchell did his damage in the second half when the Patriots needed to blow the game open. No play was a bigger catalyst to the team's success on offense than Mitchell's third-down catch to keep the chains moving on 3rd-and-9 in the third quarter. Mitchell then capitalized with a 56-yard touchdown where he showed his true speed in the fourth quarter. 

Danny Amendola did a nice job of improvising and finding open space on his touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. 

Grade: A

Tight End

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No Gronk...OK, kind of a problem. 

Without Gronkowski, who stayed back home in Foxborough, the Patriots relied on Julian Edelman more than Gronk's counterpart Martellus Bennett. But let's not fault Bennett for his performance. The 49ers placed blanket coverage on him for most of the game and allowed the Patriots to beat them with anyone else. Clearly, the 49ers feared what the Patriots could do with Bennett in this game. 

Bennett had one catch for 14 yards on two targets, but his ability to draw attention can't be forgotten. 

Grade: B

Offensive Line

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Let's start with the good: Joe Thuney is really, really good and not just "rookie good." Thuney has been a great addition at left guard all season for the Patriots, and he continues to build on his success against the 49ers.

Thuney was good on the ground and presence in pass-protection. He pulls effectively and rarely blows a block assignment. The only knock is the Patriots struggled to run to the left side at certain points of the game, but that is largely attributed to Nate Solder. 

It feels like Solder has a bad game every few matchups. This was one of them. 

Solder had a drive-crippling penalty that took away a long 35-yard Blount touchdown run. I'll have to watch the film back, but it appeared Blount had already escaped to the second level of the defense and Solder's blatant hook and drag down of a linebacker was completely unnecessary. Solder also picked up a false start penalty, too. It just wasn't his day. 

Marcus Cannon was torched for a sack by DeForest Buckner. 

Outside of those gaffs, the offensive line created some running space for Blount, and Brady only went down for a sack one time. 

Grade: B+

Defensive Line

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Hey! Hey! Hey! Isn't it great to see some defensive variety? 

After a tragically anemic performance against the Seahawks, the Patriots decided to unleash a little bit of a pass rush. While most of the success came from the linebackers and even Patrick Chung, the Patriots were generating some pressure from ends and rushers. 

Hats off to Chris Long, Rob Ninkovich and Trey Flowers. The Patriots had four sacks right at the start of the game en route to a five-sack day. Long generated some pressure and had a tackle for a loss. Flowers contributed on a sack. Ninkovich had a QB hit. 

On the ground, there were some concerns, as Carlos Hyde looked just as effective as the Seahawks last week. The yards per carry by the Seahawks and 49ers in each of these two weeks is still very concerning. 

Overall, today was a step in the right direction.

Grade: B-

Linebacker

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To reiterate, the Patriots finally unleashed a pass rush, and a large factor in the matter was Dont'a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy. 

The Patriots utilized Hightower on a perfect A-gap blitz that ended with a huge sack of Colin Kaepernick. Hightower had a few woes as he was picked for a big pass play and missed some tackles. Missing tackles was an issue for more than Hightower, though; it was more of a problem for the whole defense, in the first half especially. 

It was nice to see Van Noy get some snaps as a pass rusher, and he looks like he can fit into the mix as an edge rusher at times. Van Noy was confused a couple of times as Hightower was barking at him twice before the snap on Vance McDonald's touchdown. Van Noy's sack was a joy to see. 

Outside of some missed tackles, the Patriots made some nice strides, especially at linebacker. There's more work to be done, but once again this is a step in the right direction. 

Grade: B-

Secondary

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Newsflash: Logan Ryan is still not terrible. 

Ryan has had some atrocious weeks as of late, but he delivered big time, even against a lowly 49ers passing game. Ryan was quiet but allowed one catch on four targets for 19 yards, by my tabulations. He even drew a holding penalty. Ryan's best play was a solid pass breakup where he displayed tight coverage and lunged at the football at the right time.

Eric Rowe had a pass breakup on a 3rd-and-6 pass intended for Jeremy Kerley where he turned at the last second with great precision. 

Malcolm Butler had another great game as he even contributed with a sack. Butler is a great tackler and an aggressive defender, so his involvement in areas outside of coverage is a nice treat to see and something the Patriots should utilize going forward. 

Devin McCourty seemed to struggle with coverage on Vance McDonald, though, which is bit discomforting. 

Patrick Chung may have burned once and bailed out by a horrible Kaepernick throw, but his sack was hopefully just the start of seeing more of his involvement at the line of scrimmage and in the pass rush. 

Grade: B+

Special Teams

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The start was not pretty. Stephen Gostkowski caught the bug plaguing all NFL kickers Sunday by missing an extra point. And it wasn't a nice kick at all. But he rebounded. He moved to the left hash and sank his remaining PATs.

He also hit a 38-yard field goal that looked like vintage Gostkowski. Maybe he has fixed his kicking woes? 

The punt coverage started off a bit shaky but cleaned up throughout the game. Nate Ebner made a solid special teams tackle. 

Ryan Allen had one lousy punt but was otherwise solid. 

Danny Amendola had a 30-yard punt return. 

In the rain, fielding the football can be difficult, but the Patriots avoided disaster. 

Grade: B+

Coaching

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So the 49ers are bad, but the Patriots turned it around from the game last week against the Seahawks. 

The defense came out with more energy and was more creative. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia drew up some blitzes and five-man rushes instead of only sending two or three rushers like he did against the Seahawks. This is something the Patriots need to build upon. 

While the defense had a lapse in the second quarter, it came to life again after the half and ignited the entire team, as the offense was struggling to start the second half. It was the first time in a long time we have seen the defense breathe life into the entire team, and the coaches deserve a lot of credit for making some changes. 

Offensively, I wasn't a fan of the runs to the left side, as they were not working at times, and the deep balls to Edelman didn't work once, twice or even after the seventh time, so it's probably a good idea to try something else. 

Overall, the Patriots did their job, and the coaches set them up for a confidence-building win on the road. 

Grade: A-